Valentine's Day celebrations on
Tuesday were banned by authorities in parts of Indonesia and Pakistan, home to
Asia's largest Muslim populations, saying the romantic tradition encouraged
casual sex and ran counter to cultural norms.

In Indonesia, officials from the country's second largest city,
Surabaya, ordered schools to prohibit students from celebrating Valentine's Day,
while in Makassar, police raided minimarts and seized condoms in a bid to
prevent teenagers from having sex.

"These raids were done after we received reports from residents that
the minimarts were selling condoms in an unregulated way, especially on
Valentine's Day,"

Makassar police official Jufri was quoted as saying in a media
report.

Indonesia's highest Islamic clerical council declared Valentine's
Day forbidden by Islamic law in 2012, saying it was contradictory to Muslim
culture and teachings.

But the vast majority of Indonesia's more than 220 million Muslims
follow a moderate form of Islam in a country with sizeable Christian and Hindu
minorities. Indonesia is a secular country whose state ideology enshrines
religious diversity.

In Indonesia's capital, Jakarta, and other parts of the country,
Valentine's Day has grown in popularity with companies, like national flag
carrier Garuda Indonesia, looking to cash in by offering special discounts and
promotions.

In Pakistan, an Islamic republic, a court banned public Valentine's
Day celebrations in its capital.

The Islamabad High Court also ordered the media to "ensure that
nothing about the celebration of Valentine's Day and its promotion is spread".

That hurt some businesses in the city of 2 million people.

"I've sold at least 50 percent less flowers today than in past
years. People just haven't come out to buy them," said Haider Ali, who works at
the F7 flower market in Islamabad.

PROMOTING LOVE

In other Asian countries, authorities took the opposite position on
Valentine's Day, imposing preemptive measures to protect festivities and even
encouraging sex.

Thailand's government, concerned with its falling birth rate, handed
out vitamins to married couples to try to encourage them to have children.

While in eastern India, police placed two members of the Bajrang Dal
- the youth wing of the hardline World Hindu Council - and four activists from a
fringe political party in preventive detention to ensure they didn't disrupt
celebrations.

Security in Bhubaneswar, capital of Odisha state, was stepped up in
public spaces including parks, cinemas and malls to prevent activists from
taking the law into their own hands, Deputy Commissioner of Police Satyabrata
Bhoi told Reuters.

In Mumbai, the Hindu-nationalist Shiv Sena party dropped its earlier
opposition to Valentine's Day after its activists had in the past beaten up
couples spending the day together.

"We are neutral about Valentine's Day," said Shiv Sena spokesman
Neelam Gorhe. "As far as this year is concerned, we have asked cadres not to
give any violent reaction."

By Benjamin Weir and Mehreen Zahra-Malik

(This story has been refiled to correct name of Indian police
official, paragraph 15.)